Day 1 in LONDON

5:20pm – Well, I made it. From Toronto to London, I am here. Currently hanging out in Pret A Manger Coffee Shop on on King William Street. I came out of the train station not knowing where I’d end up, I just wanted to get out of the train station. I saw the sky was pink in the distance so I just followed it. I ended up on a bridge with a beautiful lookout, took a few pics then came back to the warmth and to do some writing. I literally just found out now that I was on the London Bridge because I was looking up the street of the coffee shop. Pretty cool. And it’s funny, my cousin gave me a yellow sweater yesterday and I said, “This will be my London coffee shop sweater”. I was right. 😛

5:30pm – My sister just called me via facebook:

“Where are you right now?”

“Beside London Bridge.”

“Okay, do not go by Oxford street, its all shut off. Something is just happening. Shootings and stuff. Be careful, stay inside.”

“Whao, crazy.”
(When I was on the bridge I was reminded of the stabbings that happened not too long ago. I thought the tower bridge was the London bridge but i was actually on the London bridge where the attack happened.)

“They are telling everyone to stay inside and all the tubes are shutting down.”

Also, prayers to Egypt. I just saw online a Mosque of Sufi Muslims got bombed. Bless their souls. Can’t we all just respect each others beliefs?

So…I had a 7 hour red eye last night and barely slept any of it. I had a middle seat so I couldn’t lean my head on anything. Plus the dim lights were on pretty much the whole time which were actually pretty bright and on top of that they came around with drinks and snacks twice as I was trying to sleep. And of course I got something. OJ, prezels and cookies, both times around. Yum Yum Yum. I’m absolutely exhausted, its been a long day. I spent most of it on the trains above and underground. I’d say a solid 6 hours. I was trying to meet up with my girlfriend but the train made a slight turn to the right which led me on the wrong tracks for about 40 minutes and when I thought it would connect back up at the top, it was the last stop. So I had to re route and then missed my friend because she had to get downtown for a meeting. Another hour back on the train, I pass out for a bit and put my hat over my eyes. I trek downtown and hit up a coffee shop for a bit and video chat with my Mom in Mexico. Then I get back on the train, then switch to another line, then a woman says to me as I’m holding my maps app open on my phone with the direction I’m direction I’m supposed to be going. But there was no service to see if I was going the write way. Then the woman says “Excuse me, are you lost?” “Yes.” “She looked at my phone and said “Your going the wrong direction, you need to go Southbound, this is Northbound. Just get off at the next stop and cross over.” “Ahhh, thank you, thank you.” I get off, cross over, catch the train for a little bit then my friend messaged me saying she left the restaurant where the meeting was and I wasn’t answering because I had no service. She’d already been there two hours, so I got off the train and went back a few stops. So with all the confusion and time being on the train I said I’d just go explore and meet up after.

I was just stretching in my chair, with my hands interlaced behind my back and a guy in a construction outfit copied me and said “good posture.” “Haha, thank you, I’m stretching.”People here are so kind!

One of the things I loved most are my friends messaging me and welcoming me to London. Everyone I know here I’ve met while travelling over the past 3 years. Its so lovely to have people in Europe whom are so special to me! One friend invited me over for tea and said lets make it a third country we meet up in. Another friend said I could stay with him Sunday, and my girlfriend Ilana is having me tonight, we click light a light switch. Another sent a welcoming message and asked what my plans are while I’m here and another 2 friends said I could stay with them after the weekend who. Its funny because I’ve met up with all my friends who live here in LA, except the one who invited me over for tea and dinner, we met in Thailand then shortly after, Bali.

Oh and for food, I havn’t really eaten yet because I’ve been on trains all day but I got 2 hash browns at Gatwick Train Station before I caught the train to Victoria. They only cost 1 pound! .50 pounds each lol. Then I bought a water bottle at a coffee shop called Coco Coffee for 1 pound too. The train to Victoria was 19.50 pound then I paid about 2.50 for the other train ride which I spanned out over 5 hours. Life in London. Only up from here. Lol.